Wednesday, 28 March 2012

Morning all and what a glorious sunny one it is here. Still the decorating saga continues. I have no desk, which is why I didn’t join in last week. But I missed the desk hopping, so I’m back without a desk and I hope you don’t mind.

We’ve had birthday celebrations in the meantime, of the sweet sixteen and big four-O varieties. The above was made for my niece, but I saw the perfect card for my husband a couple of months ago and bought it….from a shop….I know!

The day of the party also happened to be Mother’s Day/Mothering Sunday and this is the card I made for my lovely Mum.

OK, I’ve kept it brief as instructed and I’ll be round to visit later. There is washing to be hung out first and sunshine to be enjoyed, while it’s here.

Saturday, 24 March 2012

Deb’s having a house warming party and we’re all invited. I’m taking Butternut Squash Soup accompanied by some of my favourite focaccia.

Put a large knob of butter and a generous splash of olive oil into a large saucepan. Gently fry one large (chopped) onion for a few minutes.

Add one large (peeled and chopped) butternut squash and 2 (cored and chopped) cooking apples.

Put the lid on and gently sweat until softened. Pour in 1 1/2 pints of vegetable stock and simmer until the squash is cooked.

Leave to cool slightly, then blitz with a hand blender and season to taste.

Add a swirl of cream to serve, if desired.

Enjoy!

Next stop on the hop is with Amy for another soup/salad course and there will be lots more guests with everything from starters, through mains, to desserts.

If you’ve stopped by today by chance, then I’m happy to see you, but you might want to go back and start with Deb. If you get lost somewhere along the way then this list will help you to get back on track.

Thursday, 8 March 2012

When I make soup, I tend to just throw everything in and don’t really follow recipes. I made a big batch of carrot and sweet potato soup, to take on my recent weekend away and it seemed to go down very well. I’ve had a few requests (you know who you are) for the recipe, so I’ve done my best to write one.

Carrot & Sweet Potato Soup

Olive oil

1 large onion

2 sticks of celery

4 large carrots

2 sweet potatoes

200g lentils

1.5 litres vegetable stock

Chop the onion and fry in a little oil for a couple of minutes.

Add the chopped carrots and celery, put on the lid and sweat until softened.

Add the chopped sweet potatoes, lentils and vegetable stock.

Bring to the boil, then simmer with a lid on for approx. 30 minutes.

Use a hand blender to blitz the soup until smooth.

This amount served 12 of us at the weekend with ease, although I did thin it down a bit with extra vegetable stock when I was reheating it.

I realise that saying I used two sweet potatoes is not particularly helpful. I would say that they weighed around 750g in total and the carrots a similar amount. I didn’t tell you to peel the veg, but I’m guessing you know that already. Also, you will need a very large pan if you make the full amount in one go!

Hopefully this makes sense. Any questions please shout and I’ll be only too happy to answer. Enjoy!

PS If you would like the cake recipes from the weekend, the chocolate muffins can be found here and the lemon drizzle cake here.

Wednesday, 7 March 2012

I came home on Sunday to a lounge still draped in sheets and a phenomenal amount of dust everywhere. I’ve spent the last two days clearing it up and attempting to restore order. It’s probably the cleanest this room has ever been. I unloaded the car last night and all my supplies are waiting to be put away.

As you can see I travelled fairly light. One RUB full of clear stamps, wet wipes and a stamp scrubby thing. The one underneath has Hero Arts alphabets, a couple of big background stamps, TH rosette die and kraft cardstock. A huge pack of paper from Costco. Did you get one of those? My tool tote, Bigshot and a tub of inks.

Some albums that I listened to on the journey, including Cowboy Junkies, The Cure, Sterophonics and Neil Young. A disc waiting to be returned to Lovefilm, instructions on how to top up my daughter’s Squid card and my not so trusty sat nav. I was ready to throw it out of the window when I saw the sign saying Welcome to Wales.

I had a fabulous time in Herefordshire with great company and some delicious food. I didn’t get any scrapbook pages done, but I made a lot of these rosettes. Very easy to do while chatting, as not much concentration is needed. The papers are from that Costco pack. I think it’s going to last forever!

I also made various other embellishments to go on cards at a later date. I need a lot this month, so it’ll be great to have a stockpile ready to stick and go. The large flowers are made from scalloped circles and are still missing their middles. The rolled roses, bunting and flourishes are made using MFT dies. Love these.

If you feel like giving us a peek into your crafty corner of the world, or just having a nose around everyone else’s, then head on over to Julia’s place. We’ll all be happy to see you. I’m off to link up and grab a coffee so I can go visiting.

PS To all you Meadow Barners waiting for the soup recipe, I promise to post it tomorrow xx

Monday, 5 March 2012

I had a wonderful weekend in Herefordshire with some lovely ladies. There was much crafting, coffee, cake, chocolate and chatting. What more could you want? It was back to reality with a bang on Sunday night, when I walked through the front door, so my story had to wait until today.

We moved into our house 4 years ago and being a new build, it was a vision in magnolia throughout. High time we had some colours on the walls then. My husband is not a huge fan of decorating, but he likes to do it right. This meant we couldn’t just paint the walls, but had to do the ceiling as well. The room was duly dust sheeted and work could commence.

We took down the old light fittings, which we both hated, ready to fill, sand, wash down and finally paint. The idea being to push through, no matter how long it took and get the new light fittings up, once the paint had dried. Neither of us spotted the fatal flaw in this excellent plan. Once the natural light ran out, we had no other light at all and couldn’t actually paint the ceiling. Doh!

The lounge was very cosy, with a selection of bedside lamps, that evening, but I’m very happy to have a fresh white ceiling and some new lights now. Maybe we’ll even get some paint on the walls this week.

For more tales, of anything from great adventures to everyday life, head on over to Sian’s place.

Thursday, 1 March 2012

….I haven’t been shut in the understairs cupboard!* Things have gone a bit pear shaped on the decorating front and I haven’t had a chance to sort out my Month in Numbers.

I’m driving up to Herefordshire tomorrow for a DIY retreat with some lovely crafty ladies and I’m just waiting for the soup to finish cooking before I can go to bed. There won’t be a Five Things I’m Loving This Friday now, but I will have a story for you on Sunday. Have a great weekend.